Turmeric and ginger, which are both plant rhizomes and botanical relatives, have long been mainstays in Indian cooking. Turmeric, on the other hand, has risen to prominence among natural health practitioners in recent decades, owing to its exceptional healing capabilities.
"It's one of the most effective anti-inflammatories and antioxidants," says Melina Jampolis, M.D., a nutritional medicine expert and author of Spice It Up: Live Long, as well as a member of the Forbes Health Advisory Board. "It suppresses inflammatory genes at the molecular level." There isn't a single substance that can treat or prevent everything, but turmeric is on the list."
What Is Turmeric and What Does It Do?
Turmeric is a perennial plant whose rhizome (underground stem) is collected for culinary spices and medicinal purposes. Its scientific name is Curcuma longa. It's predominantly grown as a culinary herb in India, and dried, powdered form is used in a variety of recipes across South Asia and the Middle East. It gives curry powder and other mustards their strong yellow hue and is known as "Indian saffron." It's also occasionally used to tint cheese and butter. For at least 4,000 years, it has also been used in ancient Indian Ayurvedic therapy.
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What Is Curcumin and How Does It Work?
Curcumin is the best researched of the natural compounds found in turmeric. Although some of turmeric's numerous volatile oils (natural aromatic oils, including various types of terpenes) seem to give advantages as well, the pharmacological or biological activities turmeric causes in humans appear to derive from this curmuminoid (a sort of polyphenol).
Health Benefits Of Turmeric, How To Use It, & Side Effects
Turmeric and its components are linked to a multitude of health advantages, including:
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1. Potential Alzheimer's Disease Protection
Curcumin seems to have anti-disease Alzheimer's properties, according to much research. Curcumin, for starters, seems to both prevent and accelerate the disintegration of rogue proteins (beta-amyloid plaques) that grow between the brain's nerve cells and hinder communication (a characteristic of Alzheimer's disease). The nerve cells eventually die, causing irreversible cognitive damage. (In fact, Aduhelm, the newest Alzheimer's disease pharmaceutical medication, acts in a similar manner by lowering amyloid plaques.)
Curcumin also seems to aid in the removal of another problematic protein called tau, which aggregates within neurons and has been linked to Alzheimer's disease.
However, the evidence is mixed. Turmeric intake did not seem to enhance cognitive performance or decrease cognitive decline in Alzheimer's patients in a limited clinical investigation.
2. Relief from Arthritis
Osteoarthritis is characterised by pain and joint dysfunction, and the most frequent therapy is pain medications such as aspirin and ibuprofen. Curcumin, on the other hand, has been shown to be equally as efficient in lowering joint inflammation and pain as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines, but without the gastrointestinal side effects (NSAIDS).
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3. Better Mental Health
Curcumin has the ability to assist the brain in a variety of ways. Other neurological illnesses, such as dementia, Huntington's disease, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease, may benefit from the polyphenol's antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
4. Possibility of Mood Improvement
Curcumin alleviated significant depression and, in some circumstances, anxiety among study participants in limited clinical trials.
According to Dr. Jampolis, curcumin seems to improve mood through boosting brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Plant-derived polyphenols like curcumin seem to boost the synthesis of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that maintains neuronal cells healthy. "BDNF has been linked to neural renewal," she explains.
Having said that, research is limited. There have been no long-term studies that have looked at the effects of curcumin for at least eight weeks.
5. Anti-inflammation protection
Chronic systemic inflammation and oxidative stress are rapidly becoming recognised as underlying causes in a variety of major illnesses, including heart disease and diabetes. Curcumin may provide some protection against the development of certain chronic disorders due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Curcumin may be able to transform our gut microbiome in ways that have favourable impacts on the whole body and mind, according to one of the most recent fields of research—the function of gut microbiota in promoting or suppressing illness.
Curcumin contains antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-cancer capabilities in addition to its two principal actions. It may also be able to control the too strong immunological response that certain COVID-19 patients have (the so-called "cytokine storm"). It's being studied as a COVID-19 preventive as well as a treatment.
